great quantities to the eastern states for shipbuilding, with oak timber. The cedar and locust of Maryland are also in demand for railroads. The amount of exports annually made from the numerous navigable branches of the bay, it is impossible to ascertain, and difficult to estimate. Mineral-springs are common in the west, and the waters of some, which have been analyzed, are found to contain sulphate of magnesia, sulphate of lime, muriate of soda, muriate of lime, carbonate of lime, &c. STATISTICS. The population of the state of Maryland, according to the census of several successive dates, has been as follows :— Years. Whites. 1790 208,647 Coal abounds, principally in Allegany county, and it is mostly of the bituminous kind. The Chesapeake and Ohio canal, from the falls at Georgetown, along the Potomac, was made chiefly 1810 for the purpose of bringing this coal to market. The cost of this work has been very great, and unexpected difficulties 1840 were found in the way of the western 1850 terminus, along the mountainous region Wheat 235,117 1830 260,222 1820 Corn 418,763 73,943 89.800 582,506 AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONS. Buckwheat Potatoes where the coal-beds are situated. The The Lonaconing iron region is in the same county, and is estimated to contain three thousand millions of tons of ore, or one thousand millions of tons of crude iron. Many companies have been formed and incorporated for several years, for the working of the coal and iron mines. Some of them have commenced operations with success. The mines at Elkridge Hone yield iron of superior quality, adapted to fine castings. This and other varieties of ore from the vicinity of Baltimore, yield from about thirtyfive to fifty per cent. of iron. Bog-ore is found in Worcester county, and has been wrought to some extent. It yields twenty-nine per cent. Several copper-mines exist in Frederick county, chiefly near the village of New London. The ore yields about thirty per cent. The following minerals are also found in Maryland, which will prove valuable, viz.: anthracite, granite, marble, soapstone, limestone, flint, sandstone, slate, potters'-clay, fire-clay, pipe-clay, various ochres, chrome, aluminous earths, &c. Tobacco 21,916,012 lbs. Hay Hemp. 502,499 2,368 bush. 700 destiny of the place. It is thought that they probably originated in the fact that the name of the owner of the estate was Pope, and in selecting a name for his plantation, he formed the title of "Pope of Rome." It is said that Washington's attention had been called to the advantages which this place presented for a city, as long previous as when he had been a youthful surveyor of the country round. His judgment was confirmed by the fact that two towns were afterward planned on the spot, and the first maps of the city represent it as laid out over the plains of Hamburgh and Carrollsville. The canoe, or pirogue, in which General Washington and a party of friends first made the survey of the Potomac, was hollowed out of a large poplar-tree on the estate of Col. Johnson, of Frederick county, Maryland. This humble bark was placed upon a wagon, hauled to the margin of the Monocasy river, launched into the stream, and there received its honored freight. The general was accompanied by Governor Johnson, one of the first commissioners for the location of the city of Washington, and several other gentlemen. At nightfall, it was usual for the party to land and seek quarters of some of the planters, or farmers, who lived near the banks of the river, in all the pride and comfort of old-fashioned kindliness and hospitality. Putting up for a night at a respectable farmer's, the general and the two Johnsons were shown into a room having but two beds. "Come, gentle men!" said Washington, "who will be my bedfellow?” Both declined. Col. Johnson often afterward declared, that, greatly as he should have felt honored by such intimacy, the awe and reverence with which the chief had inspired him, even in their daily and unreserved intercourse, would have made the liberty seem little short of profanation. While the party were exploring in the vicinity of Harper's ferry, news arrived of the burning at the stake of Colonel Crawford, by the Indians, at Sandusky. Washington became excited to tears at hearing the recital, for Crawford had been one of the companions of his early life, and had often been his rival in athletic exercises. The unfortunate man was brave as a lion, and had served with great distinction in the war of the revolution. Tears soon gave way to indignation, and Washington, pointing to a lofty rock which juts over the stream at its remarkable passage through the mountain, exclaimed, with a voice tremulous from feeling: "By Heaven, were I the sole judge of these Indians, it would be slight retaliation to hurl every spectator of his death from that height into the abyss." The first corner-stone in the district of Columbia was laid at Jones's point, near Alexandria, April 15, 1791, with the imposing masonic ceremonies of the time, and a quaint address by the Rev. James Muir. By the retrocession of Alexandria, the stone is no longer within the limits of the district. The first public communication on record in relation to arrangements for laying out this city is from the pen of General Washington, and bears date the 11th March, 1791; in a subsequent letter of the 30th April, he calls it the Fed eral city. Four months later, in a letter by the original commissioners-Messrs Johnson, Stuart, and Carroll — dated Georgetown, 9th September, 1791, addressed to the architect, Major L'Enfant, he is instructed to entitle the district on his maps the " Territory of Columbia," and the city, the "City of Washington." On the 18th September, 1793, the southeast corner-stone of the north wing of the capitol was laid by General Washington. The Philadelphia papers of the day were at that time discontinued from the panic of the yellow-fever, so we have no account of the celebration. A speech was delivered, however, by Washington. The architect, Major L'Enfant, went on to lay out the streets, in the first place, by setting out right angles, after the fashion of Philadelphia, and then intersecting them by those enormous avenues which were contrived to show the public buildings, the president's house, and the capitol, from all quarters; and hence the perplexing dust and triangles of Washington. It was generally remarked of L'Enfant that he was not only a child in name, but in education; as, from the names he gave the streets, he appeared to know little else than A, B, C, and one, two, three. It appears, however, by a letter of the commissioners, that they gave these names to the streets at the same time with that to the city; for convenience a good arrangement, since the streets could more easily be found by a stranger under such designations. The mall upon which the Smithsonian institute and its gardens have been located, was originally designed as the leading avenue from the capitol to the president's house, terminating by a bridge across the river, and meeting a monument which was to have been erected to Washington-an equestrian statue, with a baton in the right hand of the hero pointing to heaven. The representatives' chamber is a fine semicircular apartment, with columns of a dark-bluish siliceous pudding-stone, hard and highly polished. It is lighted from above. The gallery is open during the debates, as well as the senate-chamber, which is a much smaller apartment. The library of congress is in another part of the building; and the great hall contains seven national pictures (each of them twelve feet by eighteen): the Declaration of Independence, Surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and Washington resigning his Commission, painted for government by Colonel Trumbull; Baptism of Pocahontas, by Chapman; Embarkation of the Pilgrims, by Weir; and the Landing of Columbus, by Vanderlyn. A fine view is enjoyed from the top of the capitol. You look along Pennsylvania avenue westward to the presiWashington-who took so strong an dent's house, with Georgetown and the interest in the construction of the capi- Potomac beyond; the general postoffice, tol as to solicit a loan himself, in a letter &c., on the right; the navyyard toward to the governor of Maryland-did not the southeast; Greenleaf's point nearly live to witness its completion. He died south; and southwest the bridge over 14th February, 1799. In November, the Potomac, with the road to Alexan1800, congress met there for the first dria and Mount Vernon. The canal time. begins south of the president's house, At present the attractions of the capi-and terminates at the east branch. tal are on the increase. The private The capitol presents a noble appeararchitecture is improving; the growth ance; its height, the ascending terraces, of the city is advancing with the enlarge- the monument and its fountain, the grand ment of the nation; the museums, con- balustrade of freestone which protects taining the collections of the exploring the offices below, and the distinct object expedition, are open; the patent office, which it forms, standing alone on its with its models of inventions, inviting lofty site, combine to make up the imthe attention, every year adding to the as-pression of grandeur, in which its archisociations of the capital; and the bright tectural defects are lost or forgotten. schemes of scholars and men of science hanging upon the prospects of the Smithsonian institute, its library and its gardens-these confirm the hopes of Wash- There are many very favorable points ington, and justify the name borrowed of view for the capitol, standing, as it from that illustrious founder of the city. does, higher than the general level of The Capitol presents specimens of the country. There are views from the various styles of architecture. On en-distant eminences, which are particutering the south wing, several columns | larly fine, in which the broad bosom of are seen, where carvings of Indian-corn- the Potomac forms the background. The stalks are substituted for flutings and filletings; while the capitals are made of the ears of corn half stripped, and disposed so as in some degree to resemble the Corinthian or composite order. The waste lands which lie at the foot of Capitol hill are appropriated for a future botanical garden. effect of the building is also remarkably imposing when the snow is on the ground, and the whole structure, rising from a field of snow, with its dazzling whiteness, looks like some admirable |
